One of my colleagues asked me if I was "pretty young." I asked her to clarify what "pretty young" means, and she said, "I don't know, twenty-four?"

"No. In fact, in March is when I'm turning thirty-four."

"...no way!"

Fetzie wrote:The Defias Brotherhood is back, and this time they are acting as racketeers in Goldshire. Anybody wishing to dance for money must now pay them protection money or be charged triple the normal amount when repairing.

theckhd wrote:The book Freakonomics gave a pretty compelling argument correlating legalized abortion and crime in general, though if my memory serves not specifically mass murder or gun violence. Their argument made sense, though (fewer children being brought up in abusive/unwanted situations and ending up in gangs was the bulk of it, I think).

There's a pretty solid correlation between environmental lead and crime rates. With studies done from the individual level to the national level.

We live in a society where people born on third base constantly try to steal second, yet we expect people born with two strikes against them to hit a homerun on the first pitch.

But for me, its not flying itself that scares me, it's the turbulence that scares the hell out of me, and the lack of control feeling that it creates. I've seen the stress tests on plane wings, but I'll still be wide awake for a 22 hour flight if it's bumping at all...

Amirya wrote:... because everyone needs a Catagonskin rug.

twinkfist wrote:i feel bad for the Mogu...having to deal with alcoholic bears.

Klaudandus wrote:The South African Airways is a toss-up. At the time, South African Airways was really controlled by the government and because SA was under embargo, it is said that the Helderberg was carrying stuff they shouldn't have and it exploded in the cargo hold. Chalk this one up to conspiracy theory.

And there's still a lot of conspiracy theories around that one in these parts.

Era wrote:Phobias are rarely rational to begin with (if ever? I haven't checked the definition), so I think it's fair to assume that we can't cure his fear of flying and/or heights through statistics.

Well a phobia has to be irrational by definition, becuase a rational fear isn't a phobia, its just common sense (a fear of deadly venemous snakes or spiders for instance is healthy).

A phobia, if I remember my psychology course correctly, is the brains overreaction to a rational base fear developed over thousands of years by virtue of the fearless dieing to the stuff otehrs avoided - survival of the fittest is a harsh mistress when it comes to mistakes.

Edit: and lets face it, hurtling along at lift.generating speeds in - essentially - a metal tube 30.000 feet in the air is - not - natural. We've only had flight for ~100 years.

"10 man guilds aren't the only ones upset: Vodka, Blood Legion and other 25 man guilds are protesting their lack of inclusion in the arrest, fearing they missed out on a possible feat of strength and accusing Blizzard of, once again, catering to casuals"

Era wrote:Phobias are rarely rational to begin with (if ever? I haven't checked the definition), so I think it's fair to assume that we can't cure his fear of flying and/or heights through statistics.

Well a phobia has to be irrational by definition, becuase a rational fear isn't a phobia, its just common sense (a fear of deadly venemous snakes or spiders for instance is healthy).

A phobia, if I remember my psychology course correctly, is the brains overreaction to a rational base fear developed over thousands of years by virtue of the fearless dieing to the stuff otehrs avoided - survival of the fittest is a harsh mistress when it comes to mistakes.

Edit: and lets face it, hurtling along at lift.generating speeds in - essentially - a metal tube 30.000 feet in the air is - not - natural. We've only had flight for ~100 years.

What you mean phobia isn't racional? I know people who have the following phobias:Malusdomesticaphobia - Perfectly normal seeing a person stop eating and fleeing the table when faced with one of this monsters. (wife of a friend of mine), her comment was "the greens are the worst"

Ornithophobia - I have seen a grown men retreat in fear, when 1 of this behemoths landed in front of him... (friend of mine) In the case the beast was a Columbidae.I can't see how someone says these fears are not rational.

An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

"10 man guilds aren't the only ones upset: Vodka, Blood Legion and other 25 man guilds are protesting their lack of inclusion in the arrest, fearing they missed out on a possible feat of strength and accusing Blizzard of, once again, catering to casuals"

People making interesting applyes to your guild, being accepted, transferring + faction transferring, being invited, then disappearing from the server after few days without a word.

I r confused.

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

Your raid group or guild melts down, you go through all the work to find a new one and apply and transfer, and after all of that you finally realize that you've had enough... Surely you Worldie could understand, given all your guild destructions...

Amirya wrote:... because everyone needs a Catagonskin rug.

twinkfist wrote:i feel bad for the Mogu...having to deal with alcoholic bears.